Welding Tips and Tricks

Hello welders of the world,

My background in welding has been watching (or not watching) my dad use this thing to fill the garage with blue light: We once used it to to make a bunk bed together him doing the welding me the grinding. Since then apart from increasing my grinding skills I found myself wanting to know more about welding and discovered there was another form of welding called TIG! All those precise and pretty welds..

With little more than a handful of stick electrode experience I've finally pulled the trigger on a Metalmaster Alupulse 210 and the biggest argon gas cylinder I could find(G size here in Australia).
The way this thing stick welds has me questioning if my dads welder ever worked properly! May sound silly to most but I had actually purchased some aluminum filler rod, a helmet I can call my own and some gloves about a half year before I even got a welder as a commitment to myself to actually getting one.

I have ordered some steel filler rod because I've jumped the gun but for now the better half of my first attempts with a-lu-mi-ni-um. I will be scouring this forum to saturate my brain with the knowledge of those experienced until one day I can make those welds I can only dream about now.

All the best for 2017 everyone!

Welcome,
Looks like you got a good start, not bad at all.
A few touching the tungsten but that will reduce with time as will consistency increase.

Welcome,


I have the same machine and I thought the same too when I tried out the MMA. I had what I thought was a decent inverter stick welder, and it probably is however the Alupulse is better.

My only advice is to ditch the binzel style chunky 26 torch and get something a bit more manageable especially if you aren't going to be using it over 150amps regularly. If you plan on welding up tons of 6mm then stick with torch that came with it.


Nice going on the welds too. Very good start! Always a bit tricky on the same piece of scrap as the heat soak starts to screw with things.

Welcome...

Been taking my glove and filler rod to bed each night. Feels good to be able to feed more than 5cm at a time

Some good mail today!
They look really well made can't wait to try them out

Welcome aboard!

Looks like you are making good progress. I have the Metalmaster 215. And I've also had the experience of lighting up with its stick function and thinking "So THIS is how good stick welding can be!" What a revelation.

I'm also running a G size cylinder. You can't have too much argon.

Finally, I agree with Rupes....dump the awful claw-hammer size 26 torch asap. I'm now running a size 17 torch with a lightweight all-in-one lead and a stubby gas lens. So much better.

Have fun!

Welcome from another keen TIG newbie but from a different generation.
I'm doing the same excercise on a 3mm plate but your runs are a bit more consistent than mine. My 71 year old hands will probably take a little longer to get it right but I'm confident I'll get there.

I lost time trying to start out learning pulse settings and filet welds until I realised it was smarter to take Jody's advice and do the flat plate first.

Good luck with your efforts!